Pixel 3 review

My second phone, the Mi A2 was a fine phone. It runs on Android One, the closest thing you can get a Pixel-like Android experience on a non-Pixel device. That said, as much as it resembles a Pixel in a lot of ways, it is still not a Pixel phone. Hence why I sold it off and got myself a Pixel 3.

I was considering the Pixel 3A which is a slightly newer version of the Pixel line but the lack of wireless charging capabilities was the deal breaker. Like I said, once you got a taste of wireless charging, you’d never want to go back to wired charging. I can never bring myself to get the bigger Pixel 3 XL with its fugly notch. Plus I always wanted a smaller second phone so I can bring it anywhere without worrying about its weight. I got my secondhand (naturally) Pixel 3 for a pretty good deal of under 1,000 ringgit from a shop in Wangsa Maju. The body was spotless and battery life is pretty good too.

Coming from the Mi A2, the Pixel 3 is a bit shorter and slimmer in width and length. The user interface is pretty much the same but you can notice immediately the difference in quality of the OLED screen on the Pixel 3. Other than that, moving around the phone is buttery smooth, just like I remembered it on my old Pixel 2. As always, you get the latest Android update first on the Pixel. Out of the box it comes with Android 9 but I have already updated it to Android 10 by now.

There is not much to comment on the Pixel 3 because it is pretty much a newer version of the Pixel 2. Same two tone design at the back although it is now frosted glass instead of aluminium. Same single rear-facing camera. There’s two front-facing cameras now though. There’s no notch on this phone but you have a slightly thicker bezel at the top of the phone and a much slimmer one at the bottom. You still have the squeeze (Active Edge) feature at the bottom side of the phone although I rarely use it if ever. And as usual, there’s the always on display that I love on every Pixel (and Samsung) phone to tell the time and date.

Photo and video quality is slightly better than the Pixel 2 (a lot better than the Mi A2). As of writing, Pixel users will still get full resolution backup of photos and videos on Google Photos but only until January 31st, 2022. As my second phone, I use it pretty lightly every day so I get an amazing 16 hours battery life if I just scroll on my Instagram feed every morning and play all my Insta Stories. For a 2 years old phone, the Pixel 3 is still a pretty good phone. I got wireless charging, brilliant OLED screen, great camera and the best Android experience on a phone. All for a relatively affordable price. I’ve used a lot of Android phones over the year and I always gravitate back to the Pixel for the above reasons.

iPhone SE review

My last iPhone was the iPhone XR. It was almost the perfect iPhone except for a few minor shortcomings. First of all it only had one camera, meaning no portrait mode shots for non-human photos. Second, it was slightly too heavy, for me at least personally. I can say I dropped the XR on my face more times than I’d like to admit. Apple only sells a clear silicone case for the XR so I had no choice but to use that one which makes the phone bulky and heavy. Use another non-Apple case you say? Never!

Hence why I sold the XR and bought myself a brand new iPhone SE. Recycled design? Smaller screen? Did not bother me too much. The main pull of the iPhone SE is its smaller size. It feels really light in my hands and more importantly, no more dropping heavy phones on my face. Powering the SE is the same powerful A13 bionic chip on the iPhone 11 and it also uses the same camera. so, internally, it is almost as good as Apple’s current flagship phone.

Did I miss Face ID? Sometimes yeah but in this era of constant face mask use, I find Touch ID super useful instead. I truly appreciate not pulling off my mask to unlock the screen or worse, having to type the passcode on the screen. The screen is much smaller than the XR for sure and who can ignore the huge bezels on the top and bottom of the screen. But I thought if I wanted bigger screens for watching videos or movies or playing games, I’d use my trusty iPad. My iPhone is mostly used for regular communication stuff like texting, social media and the occasional video watching. And another benefit of a smaller iPhone is that it is also much lighter so I can bring it for my run without feeling anything at all.

With regular use, the battery can last up to 11 hours before needing charge (20%). Not too shabby for a 1,821mAh battery. I must say I did not regret switching from the bigger XR to the SE. I particularly enjoy typing with one hand and carrying around this lightweight iPhone for a change. Maybe I’d get a bigger iPhone again in the future, who knows. But for now I am really happy with my compact iPhone SE.